I better clear out that nest before it gets worse. Who knows what I could come back to tonight.
Unfortunately, it’s pretty high up there. I put my desk chair on the bed and slowly shift my weight onto it as I climb, my left arm pressed against the wall like Spider-Man trying to keep me balanced. Up close, the webbing doesn’t look like webbing at all. In my peripheral vision, the pulsing falls into the same three-angle pattern over and over, like it was built specifically to fit the corner.
I wobble and jab at it with a pen. It isn’t sticky like I expected. I work the point under the edge and pry.
The wall gives way instead of the web.
It crumbles like dry, day-old coffee cake.
A hole opens.
Fuck.
A mal comes through and I fall backward onto the bed with a thud. I zap it, burning precious mana I really can’t afford to spend. A second one crawls through. I’m still trying to get my feet under me when I zap that one too.
Then the hole gets bigger.
There are dozens.
Too many.
They’re all over me before I can scream. I’m grabbing, kicking, trying to throw them off, but every time I pull one away another takes its place.
My neck burns.
I touch it.
Blood.
So much blood.
Is that all mine?
They’re eating me.....
